As far as the clash with the media, well, that’s not even exactly what happened. The hubbub started with a guy on Twitter who reported on an incident that he got second-hand … because he wasn’t even there. Basically, it was Puig saying bad words about the media to teammates because of a TMZ report about him going clubbing with Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford, and LeBron James. Meh.

To me, both issues only serve as extraneous distractions from what he does on the field, both the good and bad.

I mean, it’s hard to get away from connecting both of those criticisms with the other incidents he’s been linked to this year. Why? Because all of it represents the constant moralizing that surrounds Puig. The Luis Gonzalez incident? Trumped up and generally irrelevant. Staring down the guy who hit in him the face with a fastball after he walks? Understandable. Pimping homers? I don’t care. Everybody BUT Americans enjoys the game that way. Celebrating? It’s entertainment, they should be happy when things go well.

I just don’t care about all of that type of crap, and that goes for everybody who does it, not just Puig.

Over the years, I’ve learned that as long as a person isn’t hurting others, I couldn’t care less about how they choose to go about their business. You could call me a player apologist if you want, and I wouldn’t mind, because people generally end up following my attitude after the dusts settles anyway.

Rarely do fans now look back at the careers of guys like Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson and think, “Boy what tremendous showboating assholes those guys were.” Rather, they’re remembered for their greatness and flair, which is what people like to call what they did after the fact. See, everything in present-tense seems like it’s the worst thing ever and that it’s ruining the game, but decades from now? Either nobody will care about these ticky-tack “violations” being committed or nobody will care about them at all, depending on how their careers shake out.

Either way, it’s a wholly asinine exercise to moralize over the perceived injustices that certain players have allegedly committed, but the narrative is constantly driven upon us by the people who have the most to gain or lose by covering the trumped up drama all that stuff brings. But for me? I’ll pass, as I’m not going to stop appreciating guys like Bryce Harper and Puig because they stare at a ball too long. I’d rather just enjoy the sport and all the talent on display.

Yasiel Puig Does Have Glaringly Obvious Areas Where He Can Improve

Put aside all the moralization, and the unfortunate thing is that Puig does have areas where he can be legitimately criticized for. Things that have ALWAYS been there as issues, as I’ve pointed out before.

Ironically, the BS being thrown around actually distracts from the aspects of Puig’s game that are still lacking. Tools-wise, Puig has all the talent to make a run at an MVP award one day, for much of the same reason that Mike Trout does: he contributes into all the “buckets” that makes up a successful player. Puig can hit for average, hit for power, throw, field, and run. Heck, he’s even already shown the ability to adjust at the plate. He can do all of that, which is great, but he’s also currently destroying certain aspects his value with his mistakes.

Baserunning = -1.3 Runs
Throwing = 0.0 Runs
Defense = 1.5 Runs

Doesn’t seem all that bad, right? Basically average in the other facets of the game besides hitting. Yet when you think about all the impossible highlight reel defensive and baserunning plays he’s had this season, it’s actually quite remarkable how he’s managed to cancel ALL of that out by running into outs, getting picked off, and allowing baserunners to advance on his throws.

What the data shows, and what anybody watching has seen, is that his defensive and baserunning fundamentals are now what need the same adjustments he has shown at the plate. So while the tone of a lot of the media pieces are a bit absurd to me — basically akin to saying Puig should’ve been benched when he was striking out a ton — we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water and take the position that he doesn’t have very real flaws.

If This Is The Worst, Then That’s Amazing

So do Puig’s problems mean that he needs to be benched or that he’s dumb or that he’s a terrible player or person? No. All it means is that he’s not a complete player yet. That’s it.

The speculation on why he’s not making multiple adjustments to multiple facets of his game after three months in the big leagues is a bit excessive in terms of criticism. Yes, we can expect more from him. Yes, he has problems. Yes, he acts like he’s 10. But expecting a rookie to not have flaws is absurd. Just because his name drives pageviews and his antics draw attention doesn’t mean that we should go around expecting that he play like a 10-year vet or try to play armchair psychologist to his problems. He is who he is: an imperfect but entirely valuable and entertaining player.

Essentially, if the biggest problem of a 22-year-old rookie that’s been a key cog in a historic run is that he misses cut-off men and runs into stupid outs, it says a lot more about what he has accomplished for the team so far than what he has cost.

The first round of the NPB Draft is a lottery system, where every team submits who they want to take. If you’re the only team that selects a player, then you are awarded his rights. However, if multiple teams select the same player, then there’s a random draw for that player’s services. The system repeats until every team has a player.

So it would be like if all 30 MLB teams decided they wanted Bryce Harper in the first round, then the way it’s determined who gets him is based on the luck of the draw. Literally.

After the first round, it’s a standard snake-format draft.

Why is it surprising that the Nippon Ham Fighters want to draft him?

It’s surprising because he already announced his intention to go overseas. An unsigned pick wouldn’t be a gigantic deal in America due to our compensation system (Mark Appel/Pirates), but in Japan it is because if you don’t sign your pick then the pick is gone forever.

To make matters worse, Nippon Ham already lost their first-round pick from last year, Tomoyuki Sugano, as he refused to sign due to his desire to play under his uncle with the Yomiuri Giants.

Needless to say, Nippon Ham fans aren’t very happy about the risk associated with this, at least judging by a small sample of reactions I found on Twitter.

So why does this complicate things for the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Rangers, the three main teams he’s rumored to be considering?

Unless the MLB and the teams involved really want a mess on their hands, they will not be able to interfere with the exclusive rights granted to the NPB team that drafts Otani until the period of negotiation ends on March 31st. As such, he’ll miss spring ball for 2013 if he’s taken.

So hypothetically speaking, that drags the saga out but it’s just an inconvenience … right? Well, in my opinion, the real risk with him being drafted is that he could be tempted to stay in Japan given time to talk it through with the team that selects him. He is, after all, only a teenager, and there are a lot of reasons besides baseball to want to stay in Japan.

Social and cultural reasons aside, Sponichi makes the case that he would be guaranteed more money by staying in Japan. While the signing bonus from an NPB team would presumably fall short of any MLB offer by a million dollars or so, he could still get a 100 million yen ($1 million) bonus in Japan and he’ll immediately be under NPB contract. On the other hand, in the MLB system, after the bonus money, he would be subjected to the standard paltry pay of a minor-leaguer. Of course, this would be rendered moot by any MLB team willing to accept the penalties in place for exceeding the cap, but I’m not so sure teams would be willing to do so.

Overall, it’s just concerning because it’s easy to say you’re going to do something, but when the easy route is laid out in front of somebody (much less a teenager), with millions of dollars at stake, and a ton of pressure, nobody could blame him for simply taking what might be a record deal given to him by whoever drafts him.

Also of note is that he’ll be banned from the NPB for three years under the “Tazawa Rule” (named after Junichi Tazawa of the Red Sox) if he chooses to go overseas, but I doubt that comes into play.

Who is going to sign him?

I sort of addressed this already, but it’s basically down to the Dodgers, Rangers, and Red Sox, according to him. Others are interested but he’s focusing on those three.

Articles from Nikkan Sports and Spoinichi show a range of reactions from teams that basically can be summarized to say that the NPB needs to look at revising the rules.

Most notably to me, via Daily Sports, the President of the Hanshin Tigers complains that while NPB scouts are restricted in terms of contact and meetings with players, international scouts are not, thus putting NPB teams at a disadvantage for their own players.

I want Cliffs Notes!

If he doesn’t get drafted, negotiations can start tomorrow.

If selected in the NPB Draft, he could be tempted to stay in Japan due to monetary, cultural, and family issues, and even if he does follow through on his overseas ambitions, negotiations with him wouldn’t be able to start until April 1st. As such, it doesn’t appear that this saga will be over for at least another 6-7 months or so.

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Since the Dodgers are in the running for his services and he’d definitely be a top prospect in the system if signed, I’ll keep everybody updated on his situation as best I can.